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19 January 2005

Over 300,000 people have died in Sudan's Darfur
region, a place the size of France. 2 million more have fled their
homes. In the first week of January, rebels and the government
signed a pact ending their 21 year long civil war. Please joinHuman Rights Watch's HRW Young Advocates and Fordham Law TONIGHT for a panel discussion.

Genocide in Darfur: Human Rights, the International Criminal Court, and the U.S. Response

Bercault will give a history and
slide presentation; Dicker and Rostow will discuss Sudan's moral, legal
and political landscapes. CQ will be curious to hear how oil interests continue to effect the region. The panel's experts will also discuss the ICC, International Criminal Court.

139 countries have signed the ICC's 1998 Rome Statute treaty and 97 countries, including the European Union, have ratified it. The US rather joined Iraq,
Libya, Yemen, Qatar, China and Israel in a 1998 vote against the document. In May 2002, Bush 'unsigned' the ICC treaty in a bid to protect his cabinet from the first international judicial
body capable of trying people for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

16 January 2005

139 countries have signed the ICC's - International Criminal Court's - 1998 Rome Statute treaty. 97 countries, including the European Union, have ratified it. The US rather joined Iraq,
Libya, Yemen, Qatar, China and Israel in a 1998 vote against the document. In May 2002, Bush 'unsigned' the ICC treaty in a bid to protect his cabinet from the first international judicial
body capable of trying people for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Not a mystery why, when so much of late has contravened international law. 1945 Allied tribunals in Nuremberg and Tokyo made it illegal for states to invade other countries. The
United Nations outlaws aggressive acts except authorized by
its Security Council. The Geneva Conventions illegalize torture of both detainees and 'unlawful combatants'.
Neither can be abused, deported or suffer 'outrages of personal
dignity;' all
have the right to a fair trial. Yet not two weeks after September 11th, Bush Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzalez wrote a memo to the president that poo-poo'd the Geneva Conventions as 'quaint'. He might have added inconvenient too the description: they outlaw torture of all Prisoners Of War whether in Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo or Afghanistan. Gonzalez is notorious for a number of memos though, some dating back to his tenure in Texas where he oversaw a goodly number of then Governor Bush's 152 executions.

The Bush Administration seems to be pressuring signatores to sign an 'impunity agreement' called the Article 98 Agreements, to exempt the US from ICC law.
In December, Bush crippled
humanitarian, agricultural and democratic programs in 50 of the 139 countries that support ICC by withholding aid. Yet CQ finds reason to cheer:
Abu Ghraib's Charles Graner just landed 10 years in
military prison.